Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

It's difficult to project, but as I see it this scheme is doomed to failure from a marketing perspective for one reason: They're still not making an effort to reach non-comic readers. The digital versions may attract some attention, if they're heavily promoted on Amazon, iTunes, etc., but otherwise the only people who will even know they exist are the people who know to go looking for them in the first place.

Meanwhile, the people who actually already think about comic books are a much smaller segment of the population. I suspect that DC will lose some readers who feel that $2.99 an issue is just too much to effectively start all over again, but I figure that'll be offset by some who are attracted by the idea of a clean(er) slate. Up front that segment will be bolstered by the inevitable, ubiquitous speculators who flock to #1s, but they'll soon lose interest.

Final tally: DC's print figures stay about the same six months from now as they are now, and digital sales fall very short of hopes, but will be said to exceed expectations.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Apparently DC is going to be running ads on TV, in theaters, and in magazines; so they do seem to be making an attempt to reach out to non-comics readers.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

That's something, at least. I wonder, though, if their top selling comics are only moving 70,000 copies a month (a figure I got from Ty Templeton, as quoted elsewhere in this thread), just where they got that kind of advertising money.

Still, prospective print edition buyers have to either have a LCS or live near a big chain bookseller like Barnes & Noble or Borders (good luck with that!) to even buy the issues that interest them, or be willing to buy online. That they're not re-entering the mass market tells me that they really believe digital is the future, and I just can't see that.

Personally, I would cease to publish trade paperback collected editions. Let the secondary market price of back issues rise; it's healthy for the local comic shops to make a profit, which is in turn healthy for the industry. I would, however, sell digital versions of back issues so that readers could get caught up without having to fork over a fortune for popular issues. Since you can't trade a digital copy, the collectors--whose money drives the industry--will be drawn out, while still protecting casual readers.

But, of course, no one asked me.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

WB might have deemed it wise to try and bolster DC with it's push to digital. Plus, it's not like DC is a small company, it's just comics don't sell a ton. Licensing and such of the characters is still money under the DC brand.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

New pic of Justice League.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=32986

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I still love Jim Lee.


Part of the fun of comic books was the collection aspect. I just don't see digital giving me at least that same feeling.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Thats pretty slick. Crazy to say but the Superman costume looks a lot better here than how Perez drew it.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

It does look better, but it still looks like armor. Superman wearing armor is just weird. He also looks really young, like he is barely in his 20s.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

So does Batman.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

How can you tell Batman looks young when the mask obscures his face?

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

You really can't? Weird.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

i just realized that for this big 51 title relaunch, there's not too much variety in the style of art or the content.

Now I know that DC is known as a superhero company, but in the 50s there was alot more variety with sci-fi, westerns, romance, etc.

Yet with this relaunch there's no real variety from the announcements. Too many artists given writing assignments to boot, similar superhero comic designs. I would like to think that instead of 7 bat books or putting out c-list heroes, they atleast came up with new titles, and new concepts, or atleast really different approaches, and really distinct artists like Mike Allred.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Yeah, the image looks much better, but I can't say I'm feeling it. It looks like Batman is taking inspiration from the movie and from the video game. I honestly don't know if I'm not feeling the redesigns because it's change, or because it's a change for the worse.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Given that someone like Batman will be rendered in several titles a month by different artists, the idea of a formal re-design just seems inane. I think of Kevin Nowlan, who did a very elaborate utility belt that no one else really tried. It was a nice touch in his Batman, but it would have been silly to require every other Bat-artist to adopt that belt. Giving Superman body armor just doesn't seem to allow artists as much liberty for their own take on the character.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Folks, welcome to what the JLA is going to look like for film if Warner Bros. ever produces it. I have no doubt this is what Jim Lee came up with when Warner approached him to sketch concepts for the Hollywood versions of the JLA. Armor costumes, drop the most recognizable comic book elements, and use mostly the iconic characters. Throw in a little racial diversity and there you have the official JLA look and lineup for the next few years in multimedia venues.
Yep, the industry is going to be in for a rude awakening when they find out a substantial minority portion of their sales was almost solely tied to the physical collectibility of the issues. There are people who have mindlessly bought issues just to keep a run going in their collections. No one is going to be attached to digital issues at all.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Im ok with this. The currently lineup does not interest me at all.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

There's nothing like filling a digital hole...

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Exactly, I kept up collecting far longer then I should have for the simple fact that I had the back issues and didn't want to interrupt the run. Now if a writer/artist came on a title or a storyline didn't go where I liked I'd simply stop downloading it. While they're making it easier to get me back as an old school fan they're making it way to easy for me to drop them.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

They gave a break to the old-school, fill-in-the-holes collectors when they restarted all the numbering anyway.

Part of the collecting mentality with comic books has always been "if I don't pick up this issue, I may never see it again, at least for cover price." Sure, there have always been 99c bins, but there's no guarantee, and sometimes filling in the holes in a collection takes years if not decades of convention going, etc. They already partially cannibalized this with prolific trades... Marvel, for instance, collects every single title, no matter how good or how bad, so I don't even bother collecting stuff monthly from them. DC doesn't collect everything (though they were getting close to it) and had a policy of putting out HCs first, then tpbs way, way later. But you always knew if a story was good enough, it would be collected. Now, you can miss a month and it will be readily available, guaranteed, and at a cheaper price. Heck, wait for a 99c sale. Especially when people already have backlogs of books.

I still say the comic book stores are going to feel the brunt of this impact.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

I don't think this creates more of an issue that was already there. Every artist draws things a bit different, even when it comes to the more complex costumes. I'm just of the mind that making a costume busier is almost never a move for the better.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

:( "Mindless" is a strong word...


Yep. I stopped collecting many a title simply because they stopped the numbering and I figured "Got'em all!"

Is it wrong that I'm thinking of filling in holes in my collection now that they're renumbering?

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Not really a mindless action, it just becomes a habitual reflex to pick up a book month after month long after it gets bad, after having collected it so long. I have not picked up singles issues in years, but there was a time long ago for myself where many titles were simply bought to continue the complete run.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Fixed.

Ever since I renewed my interest in comics a couple years ago, this is really what I've been doing, as well as going back and finding titles I meant to read when they were new but was so bogged down by my Batman and Superman reading I didn't really have the money for anything else because those two alone represented a minimum 10 issues a month.

Bone, Danger Girl and Strangers in Paradise have held my attention in recent times and while I wish I had been reading those all along I can at least say that they've withstood the last ~20 years quite well. I don't think I would have enjoyed them any more during their publication than I have now. Plus, the pressure's off of me to get caught up and stay caught up as a reader. I've got about half of Strangers in Paradise singles, but haven't gotten to nearly any of them because of the gaps in my library. No big deal. I'll read through as I fill in the gaps. It's not like I'll be any further behind in December than I am now if I don't make any more progress.

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

Yep. Me too. I have two longboxes of comics I basically didn't read, which I bought just to continue runs...

Re: DC UNIVERSE Reboots in September, Same Day Digital Linewide
 

There's folks who collect comics, and there's folk's that read comics. I'm in the latter group. I've been reading comics since around 1971, and I don't think I've ever stuck with a title just to complete a run. When a new creative team comes on and I don't like the result, I've always dropped the title. (I was dropping Marvel books like flies back during the Shooter Exodus.) If I'm not enjoying a comic, I don't bother reading it.

Now, that doesn't mean I don't horde comics. I've got at least thirty long boxes worth, and that's after some losses during a flood.

The second coming of the DC Implosion is a great jumping-off point for me. I've always considered myself a DC guy, but it's gotten to the point where I am only following three floppies (Secret Six, Birds of Prey, and the Legion) and tradewaiting on a fourth book (the Legion stories in Adventure). I'm not buying any of the new titles, as I have no interest in supporting the shenanigans that have disrupted the precious few books I still do buy (especially at four bucks a throw). I figure if there is really good buzz on a title I'll pick it up in trade.